MANAGEMENT OF PARVOVIRUS INFECTION IN PREGNANCY AND OUTCOMES OF HYDROPS - A SURVEY OF MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY-OF-PERINATAL-OBSTETRICIANS

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to investigate the evaluation and managemen t of parvovirus infection during pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN: Surveys were mailed to members of the Society of Perinatal Obstetricians residing in the United States and Canada in July 1997. They were asked about th eir evaluation and management of parvovirus infection, including wheth er they repeated and confirmed serologic studies, what their initial a nd follow-up evaluations included, whether they had had any cases of p arvovirus-associated hydrops in the past 2 years, and if so, what were the management and outcomes of the hydropic fetuses. RESULTS: Surveys were mailed to 1623 members of the Society of Perinatal Obstetricians and 541 completed surveys were returned. Sixty-eight percent of the r espondents repeated and confirmed serologic studies. Eighty-nine perce nt used ultrasonography in their initial management of pregnant patien ts with recent parvovirus infection, 7.5% used amniocentesis for polym erase chain reaction, and 2% used fetal blood sampling. The outcomes o f the 539 cases of parvovirus-induced hydrops included spontaneous res olution in 34%, death without intrauterine transfusion in 30%, resolut ion after intrauterine transfusion in 29%, death after intrauterine tr ansfusion in 6%, and pregnancy termination in 1%. Almost all cases of nonimmune hydrops reported occurred between 16 and 32 weeks. CONCLUSIO NS: Approximately one third of the cases of parvovirus-induced nonimmu ne hydrops resolved spontaneously, whereas 83.5% of hydropic fetuses t ransfused survived.